RoboCop (Constellations)

RoboCop, Dutch director Paul Verhoeven's first American film, was both a commercial and (surprise) critical hit on release in 1987. Marking its thirtieth anniversary, this volume explores the film from a variety of critical approaches, including rereading RoboCop as a Western; the neofascist corporatization of the human body; satire, late-Reagan America and the rise of neoliberalism; resurrection, death, and the figure of the cyborg in science fiction; and the legacy of the film across American cinema and within Verhoeven's own body of work, which includes Total Recall and Starship Troopers, both of which develop further ideological interests about American culture. "I'd buy that for a dollar!"